found it difficult to lie to the Grand Vizier. Ibrahim watched my face closely and said, “Fear nothing, but speak openly. You need never regret it, for I alone require certainty on this point. This is my secret and the Sultan shall never learn of it.”
At last I said, “You have led me into cruel temptation, but I cannot lie to you-not even for all this gold.”
Tears of indignation rose to my eyes as I thrust the bags aside, and I told him how I had entered the harem and how I came to give my dog to Prince Jehangir. I ended bitterly, “I’m a fool to tell you this when a lie would make me a rich man. But I’ve never been able to work solely for my own advantage-a fault that my wife continually complains of.”
The senseless loss of the money caused me to burst into tears and curse my own weakness. Master Gritti and Seraskier Ibrahim looked at each other in wonder. Then Ibrahim stroked my shoulder soothingly and asked, “How then can the Kislar-Aga have made your wife known to the Sultana, so that she now pays almost daily visits to the harem to gaze into sand and to sell all kinds of lotions and ointments for the complexion?”
I struck my hands together in astonishment and replied, “Of this I had not the least idea, though it’s true that I spoke a word to the Kislar-Aga on my wife’s behalf and extolled her talent.”
Giulia’s great good fortune encouraged me to prattle on about her until the last shadow of the Seraskier’s suspicions melted away and he said with a smile, “I believe you. I cannot doubt your sincerity, though I’ve not yet made up my mind as to whether you’re a simpleton or a man of excessive cunning.”
To my sorrow he took back the money bags and hid them again under the cushions. But then he clapped his hands and dismissed the mute who had been standing hidden behind a curtain with a skein of colored silken cords over his shoulder. The sight of this man sent cold shivers down my spine and the Grand Vizier said, “If you had confessed to plotting against me you would have been given the gold, but little time to enjoy it, for I could not have allowed you to live. But your honesty deserves recognition, so ask of me what you will, within reason.”
Quaking with both fear and gratitude I threw myself to the ground before him and cried, “I will ever be your faithful servant, as hitherto-but tell me what you mean by ‘reason,’ for I would not insult your munificence by requesting too petty a token of your favor.”
At this the Grand Vizier laughed aloud, but gave me no help. I was indeed in a dilemma, for though I was loath to ask too little I feared to anger him by too bold a request. I rubbed my moist palms together in an agony of indecision, until at last I summoned up my courage and said, “I am a man of small pretensions, but my wife has long desired a dwelling that we might regard as our own home. A little house, however modest, with its own garden somewhere on the shores of the Bosphorus, not too far from the Seraglio, would be the most wonderful gift you could make me. I would bless you all my life long. You own large properties on the outskirts of the city- countless gardens, palaces, and summer villas-and would never notice the lack of one little corner on the shore.”
No request could have been more acceptable to the Grand Vizier. A smile overspread his handsome face as he stretched fqrth his hand to be kissed and said, “Your request is the best proof of your sincerity, for if you had meditated treachery you would certainly not have asked for a house near the capital, but rather such reward as could be carried abroad. And there is no lovelier city than Istanbul. Allah himself designed it to be the capital of the world, and if he wills it I mean to beautify it further with fine buildings and mosques. I will make over to you a spacious plot of ground next to my own summer palace on the Bosphorus, and Sinan shall build for you and your family a roomy wooden house to harmonize with the landscape and gladden the heart and the eyes. He may draw the necessary funds from my treasury and employ
Master Gritti shook his head at my stupidity, but my own joy knew no bounds and I saw that fate after all had been kind in sending me to this war.
But we wasted many valuable days at Buda, and when at last the army moved off the heavens opened once more, so that even the toughest of the janissaries began to fear that Hungary was infested with raging jinn, while the shivering dervishes foretold another deluge. Yet the Sultan’s army was too big for anyone to doubt its ultimate success. Not even the Hungarians doubted it, for when on our way up the Danube valley we came to the strong fortress of Gran, Bishop Varday surrendered at once and so far sacrificed himself as to join the Sultan’s suite, in order to save what could be saved of the property of the Hungarian church.
We pursued our way under great difficulties, and it was pitiful to see the camels in that icy rain, slipping and stumbling along the swampy roads and tearing the pads of their feet, until they lay down to die. By the time we reached Vienna we had hardly twenty thousand camels left, though we had started with over ninety thousand, and it will be understood how hard it became to carry supplies for so vast an army.
September was drawing to an end when at last our forces took up their positions before Vienna, and in his gorgeous pavilion the Sultan sat shivering before a charcoal brazier. The gold-embroidered lining of the tent gave little protection against the cold and was not even rainproof.
But from the hills of Semmering, the rich and populous city, with its cathedral spire soaring into the sky, seemed almost within reach. The walls looked as slender as threads while the hastily thrown up breastworks and palisades held no menace. Truly, I cannot think how we failed to capture Vienna with its slender fortifications and relatively small garrison, though this indeed was stiffened with a few veterans whom King Ferdinand had been able to install there before prudently taking flight into Bohemia.
But in all fairness I must mention that the defenders lived up to their reputation and did all they could to increase the homesickness of the besieger. They were supported by a firm and well-justified belief that time and the forces of nature were on their side, and I fancy also that they regarded themselves as the guardians of the last Christian stronghold. If this fell, nothing could hold back the tide of a victorious Islam from flooding in over Germany and all Europe. I felt this strongly as I looked out over Vienna from the Semmering heights, and renegade though I was I could not be sure for which side I desired victory. And when I saw the incredible valor of the besieged I felt very painfully my apostasy, though the understanding reader will appreciate my sincerity and singleness of heart in matters of faith.
I had little time for profitless brooding, for Sinan the Builder soon set me to work in earnest. As his interpreter I had to interrogate every prisoner we had taken at the capitulation of Buda; he even sent me to the prison camp to question fugitives whom the akindshas had captured, and learn from them details of streets, houses, walls, towers, and new fortifications in Vienna. He gave me no rest. Panting, I dashed from one informant to another and noted on my map which houses were stone built and which were of timber, which had lost their roofs and which had been torn down to make room for artillery, where trenches had been dug, which streets were closed to horse traffic and who had command of the various gates, towers, and bastions. I became really exasperated at last and cried, “Allah preserve me, what trouble you give yourself! Make a breach in the walls, no matter where, and the janissaries will do the rest-if only for the sake of warming themselves at last in front of a good fire.”
But Sinan the Builder replied, “No, no. First I must note the slope of the ground and discover any subterranean springs, establish the water table, and note the depth of soil, lest my saps become flooded or brought up short by a wall of rock. I must know all there is to know about Vienna.”
I was already so familiar with the plan of the city that I could almost have found my way about it blindfold. Thousands of its inhabitants who were unfit to bear arms had been driven forth most mercilessly, and fell an easy prey to the savage akindshas. Their numbers so increased that there was scarcely room for them in the slave pens; nor was it possible to maintain an effective guard. Thus it was that many of them succeeded in escaping and carrying back useful information to the defenders.
If these defenders had been mindful of their small numbers and had followed the rules of war by waiting quietly behind their walls for our attack, life in our camp might have been bearable, despite the weather and the shortage of provisions. But these reckless Germans and Bohemians hindered us in every possible way. When after much reflection and calculation Sinan began at last to dig toward the Carin- thian Gate, the German gunners in the city descended into the underground galleries beneath the walls. There they sat with ears pricked and eyes fixed upon the surface of water in a bucket and upon a handful of peas scattered on a drum. When the peas began to dance and the water to quiver with the vibration of our works, these godless men at once embarked on countermeasures. So, when at last we had tunneled right under the wall and there stacked our powder until such time as we could explode all the mines at once, these impudent and thievish Germans dug through to our saps from inside, stole all our powder, and carried it back into the city, having first blown up and destroyed all that we had achieved in the course of weeks of hard and dangerous labor.
One evening the Seraskier, impatient at the slowness of the sappers, brought his light fieldpieces into position
